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DeJuan T. Brown of AWAKE addresses the crowd at Thursday's anti-violence meeting at the Spring of Hope Church of God in Christ. Brown said two of the last three homicide victims in Springfield involved members of his family.
(The Republican | Patrick Johnson)

SPRINGFIELD — Angered and frustrated at an outbreak of violence that has resulted in the murders of three people in a span of eight days, a capacity crowd packed into an Old Hill church Wednesday night to plot what to do to prevent future violence.

The emotional highpoint of the meeting was when AWAKE member Chelan Brown invited parents who have lost children to homicide to join her in front of the congregation. Eleven people from different parts of the room soon joined her.

“I wanted you to see the faces, to see their pain. It never goes away and it never gets easier, and as a community we need to wrap our arms around these people,” she said.

“Tonight they look like us; they are us.”

Brown’s husband, AWAKE CEO DeJuan T. Brown, said he lost relatives in two of the last three shootings. He said that, like many in the room, he was hurt and angry.

The point to the meeting, he said, was not to dwell on the pain and anger but to find tangible ways to prevent future violence. “What can we do to make it past this?” he asked.

Those in attendance were invited to sign up for different “action groups” that will work on different aspects of violence prevention.

Among them were the Community Trauma and Emergency Response team that works to prevent violence and retaliation, the Clergy and Faith in Action group that will work with churches on outreach, the Fathers in Action group that will work to get fathers to reconnect with, and take an active role in, the raising of their children, and the Youth in Action group that will reach out to young people around the city with a message of violence prevention.

The call for a meeting came following the shooting death of 22-year-old John Alexander as he sat in a car on Westminster Street early Saturday.

His death came a week after two people were killed in separate shootings.

Adriana Bonet, 25, of Leyfred Terrace was shot to death at about 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 21 as she stood with two men in the parking lot at 955 Worthington St. At 10 p.m. Sept. 21. Brandon Daniels, 29, was shot to death in front of 179 Walnut St. following what police described as a confrontation with a group of men.

The crowd applauded when she said the problem with the city is “gun violence, not just gang violence.”

The man police arrested and charged with killing her son was found not guilty by a Hampden County jury last month. Wheeler said the trial proved a frustrating experience because people who knew what happened to her son would not testify. She also encouraged people to cooperate with the authorities.

The audience applauded once more when Wheeler said anyone who witnesses someone shoot a friend has a obligation to cooperate with police. “You’re not a snitch.”

Mayor Domenic Sarno spoke briefly, acknowledging Springfield has a problem with violence, as do many cities.

He said the events of the last two weeks have been upsetting, and conceded that he has gone to console too many families who have lost children and gone to too many meetings where people talk about doing something to stop violence.

“You are the good people of Springfield. I need you to come forward,” he said. “There are many more good people – by one-hundred-fold – for every negative person.”

He repeated a message he has delivered previously, that families need to stay on top of what their teenage children are doing and who they are hanging out with. “Keep your thumbs on your kids,” he said.